1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic cash register system for entering customer orders and performing cash tendering at a drive-through restaurant or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of a conventional electronic cash register system used at a drive-through restaurant. The electronic cash register system comprises a menu board 72 for displaying the menu of the restaurant, an intercom 73 connecting the menu board 72 and an order window, a first register (order taker) 74 installed at the order window for entering orders, a second register (cashier) 76 installed at a cashing window for performing cash tendering, a display control unit 78 for receiving the contents of the orders and controlling the menu display, a display unit 79 installed at a commodity presentation window and connected to the display control unit 78 for displaying the contents of the orders, a control key unit 80 connected to the display control unit 78 for controlling the contents of the display, and a third register (cashier/order-taker) 81 installed at the commodity presentation window for entering orders and performing cash tendering. The first to third registers 74, 76, 81 are connected to the display control unit 78 through a communication line 82. FIG. 1 also shows a first vehicle 71 carrying a customer who places an order for commodities before the menu board 72, a second vehicle 75 carrying a customer who pays the charge at the cashing window, and a third vehicle 77 carrying a customer who receives the ordered commodities at the commodity presentation window.
Now, the operation of the conventional system described above will be explained. The customer in the first vehicle 71 places an order from within the vehicle for commodities through the intercom 73 while watching the menu on the menu board 72. The content of the order is transmitted through the intercom 73 to the order window, and a clerk operating the first register 74 receives the order and enters the content of the order in the first register 74. The content of the customer order entered in the first register 74 is sent through the communication line 82 to the display control unit 78. The display control unit 78 displays the received content of the order on the display unit 79 while at the same time storing the same content of the order therein. The customer riding in the first vehicle 71 pays the charge to a clerk operating the second register 76 at the cashing window located several meters away, and further receives the ordered commodities at the commodity presentation window located another several meters away. The display unit 79 includes, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, an unfilled order 83 indicated under "#23" on the right side of the lower column, a filled but unpaid order 84 under "#22 TOTL" at the center of the lower column, a paid order 85 under "#21 PAID" on the left side of the lower column, and a paid but not yet served order 86 under "#15 HOLD" on the left side of the upper column. The control key unit 80 for controlling the screen of the display unit 79 includes, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, a SERVE key 91 for erasing the order, a HOLD key 92 for holding the order temporarily and a HOLD SERVE key 93 for erasing the temporarily-held order.
At the cashing window, the content of the unpaid order at the top of the queue displayed under "#22 TOTL" is called from the display control unit 78 by way of the second register 76. The charge of the commodities indicated by the content of this order is notified to the customer, who pays the charge. Upon completion of cash tendering for all the commodities, letters "TOTL" in "#22 TOTL" are changed to "PAID". The order from the customer is displayed on the display unit 79 in the restaurant. A clerk at the commodity presentation window thus prepares the commodities while watching the display unit 79. When the preparation of the commodities is complete, the clerk delivers the commodities to the customer, and then operating the SERVE key 91, erases the particular order from the queue (SERVE). In the case where the commodities are not yet prepared, on the other hand, the clerk requests the customer to wait in the parking area and, operating the HOLD key 92, has the order of the particular vehicle translated to and displayed in another area of the display unit 79 (HOLD). Upon preparation of the commodities, the clerk delivers the commodities to the waiting vehicle, operates the HOLD SERVE key 93 to erase the display of the content of the order from the display unit 79 (HOLD SERVE). The third register 81 which includes an order-taker mode and a cashier mode is for processing an additional order which may be placed by a customer in a vehicle arriving at the commodity presentation window. This register 81 performs dual operation of order entry and cash tendering.
In this way, the conventional electronic cash register system used at a drive-through restaurant comprises a register in order-taker mode at the order window, a register in cashier mode at the cashing window, and a register in cashier/order-taker mode at the commodity presentation window, thereby realizing a drive-through set-up in which customer orders can be smoothly processed in sequence.
In the configuration of the conventional electronic cash register system described above, however, it sometimes happens that the clerk receives a wrong customer order at the order window due to a hearing amiss with the result that the right commodities cannot be prepared making the customer feel uncomfortable. Also, there are customers who avoid a shop with an intercom as they hate or are not good at placing an order through the intercom. Another problem is that the guide to or recommendation of a commodity is difficult for lack of face-to-face service between the clerk and the customer.
A drive-through sale system for preventing presentation errors and related payment errors is disclosed in JP-A-4-349592. In this drive-through sale system, the license number of a customer vehicle is recognized by a license number reader from the image pick-up output of the customer vehicle. The recognized vehicle license number of the orderer vehicle together with corresponding ordered commodities are stored in a drive-through controller. The payment section and the order presentation section recognize the vehicle license number, and the drive-through controller is searched using the recognized license number. As a result, the price of the ordered commodities corresponding to the licence number is charged at the payment section, and the commodities corresponding to the license number are delivered to the customer at the ordered commodity presentation section.
A restaurant automation system for presenting the menu ordered by a customer correctly to a table where he sits is disclosed in JP-A-3-110668. In this automation system aimed at restaurants, the customer order entered from the electronic cash register system is displayed on a TV set placed in a cookery. At the same time, the number of the table where the customer sits is input through a table number input terminal. The customer order and the number of the table where the customer sits are thus made to correspond to each other. After completion of the cooking, a presentation card indicating the menu ordered by the customer and the corresponding table number is printed out.
Further, a drive-through ordering system is disclosed by JP-A-3-29082 which comprises two vehicle-moving customer order input units in juxtaposition and an indicator for indicating to the next vehicle the input unit by which the particular vehicle is served, wherein customer orders for two vehicles are received at the same time and the next-waiting vehicle is advanced to the input unit which has processed the order earlier, thereby shortening both the time for entering customer orders and the time for processing orders.